This is our daily review of Arsenal anniversaries taken from the Arsenal day by day files prepared by the AISA Arsenal History Society.
Below are the Anniversaries from October 11.
Our headline story comes from 1890.
11 October 1880: Birth of Jimmy Sharp who played over 100 times for Arsenal between 1905 and 1908.
11 October 1890: First recorded appearance of Jack Humble as an “umpire” (ie ref) v 93rd Highlanders. Newspaper reports suggest that he should stick to administering the club, rather than try umpiring, which he did, becoming Woolwich Arsenal’s first chairman, launching the club into the League in 1893.
11 October 1902: Arsenal beat Bristol City 2-1 in front of highest league crowd thus far: 16000. Gooing and Hunt scored.
11 October 1913: Frederick Groves signs as a pro, having played for Barnet Albion and Glossop North End before signing as an amateur player in August 1912
11 October 1919: Joseph Toner makes his league début against Everton which Arsenal won 3-2. He appeared at number 11, replacing FW Groves who moved to inside right. He got a run of 10 games at outside left before losing his place to CH Lewis,
11 October 1952: Arsenal 2 Sheffield Wednesday 2. Arsenal were yet to show the form that ultimately won the title on the last day of the season, but the supporters clearly saw something positive happening, as 55,678 turned up.
11 October 1972: Jeff Blockley won his one England cap. Unfortunately with the team starting to decline he failed to blossom as an Arsenal player and he left for Leicester in 1975.
11 October 1972: John Roberts transferred to Birmingham, having played 59 league games for Arsenal, scoring five goals. After Birmingham he moved on to Wrexham for whom he played 145 times.
11 October 1975: Arsenal beat Coventry 5-0 in the league. The scorers were Cropley 2, Kidd 2 and Ball. Although it was a very poor season Arsenal did once exceed this score beating WHU 6-1 at home on March 20.
11 October 1976: John Devine signed as a professional. By the time of the 1980 cup final he was chosen ahead of Sammy Nelson and was part of the Cup Winners Cup squad for the final, but his career was cut short by injury.
Yesterday’s anniversaries are to be found at:
Mr Kroenke fails in his pledge to Arsenal fans.
Our most recent article on Arsenal’s history…
Arsenal in wartime: November and December 2016
On this day in 1981, Auberon Waugh, the novelist, wrote: “Politicians can forgive almost anything in the way of abuse; they can forgive subversion, revolution, being contradicted, exposed as liars, even ridiculed, but they can never forgive being ignored.” It is as true today as it was then.
- Arsenal day by day – over 5000 anniversaries of the club
The current series from the Arsenal History Series being developed on this site is Henry Norris at the Arsenal, covering all aspects off the life and work of the man who rescued Arsenal from extinction, secured the club’s future by moving it to Highbury, and then brought in Herbert Chapman as manager.
The previously untold tale of how it was that Norris came to choose Highbury as the suitable location for Arsenal’s new ground.
The series is being worked on daily, and the articles thus far are here.
Among the many other series we have run are…
- Arsenal in the 30s
- Arsenal players in the 30s
- Arsenal in the summer
- The First League Season, including a review of each player who played in that season
- Arsenal day by day – over 5000 anniversaries of the club
- Arsenal in the 70s
